Wonder If It's Me You're Seeing
by Nina of the Galaxy
Summary: Oliver knows Laurel is not ok, but he can't help her as Oliver. So Arrow starts to spend some time at her house. First he is just there and then they start to talk and she falls for him. After every mission he goes to see her. One night she isn't at home and he waits for her, and when they kiss she finds out who he is.


Genre: Romance  
Words: 1509  
Status: Done  
Pairing: Laurel/Oliver

Oliver knew something was up. Laurel hadn't been herself, but it wasn't exactly easy to talk to Laurel. He'd done a lot of things to fuck it up and those were all on him. So he wore that burden as his own. But he couldn't just leave her like that. Couldn't do nothing. He saw the pain in her eyes and so what if he couldn't make it go away? He knew someone who could.

It started with the Dollmaker. It had been his stupid fault that she was in that position in the first place. It had been his fault that she'd been in that position way too many times.

He came in through the window. "Are you okay?" He asked, through the voice modulator. It was the most obvious question and it felt like a dumb one, but it was a starting point. Maybe God had not graced him with eloquence.

She stood there and looked at him. There was no gun in her hands. No malice on her face. She looked older than she should have. Yet another thing he had done to her. "I….I don't know." She almost sobbed. "I just…you saved me."

"You deserve to be saved." He said, looking to the ground and then looking back up. It hadn't been the best thing to come in the Arrow costume, but she wouldn't have let him in otherwise. "You don't have to take it on all by yourself."

Her mouth twitched a little upwards, indicating he said something right and the feeling of relief astounded him. All these years later, and Laurel could still do that to him. He wanted to make her better. Save her.

She looked at him curiously, trying to figure it all out. "Please don't do that." He asked, a little embarrassed. It was too early. He didn't want to leave.

"Can you just talk to me?" She asked in a quiet voice. "and hold me?"

He nodded and sat in the bed with her as he held her and asked her, "What do you want me to talk about?"

She leaned into his chest and told him, "Crime fighting. Whatever you do." He talked a long time about crime fighting while she just listened. She just listened and listened and listened. And it felt good to really get it all out there. It felt good to know that she wanted to hear it. It felt good to be close to her.

He stopped talking when he heard her loudly snore at him. It was adorable. She'd never believe it. He flipped back his hood, turned the modulator off, gave her a kiss on the head, and whispered, "I love you, Laurel," to her as he reluctantly snuck out of her apartment, doing up the window as he left.

And that's how it started. How she became his daily ritual. His days were the same. Get up, exercise, take a shower, go to QC, go to one event or so, stop the city's wrongdoers and then go to Laurel's till she fell asleep. Sometimes she even cooked dinner.

She asked about the hood a couple of times. Asked him what he did besides this. And it felt like really getting to know her again. They could be honest, with the minor exception of the hood obscuring his face. But it felt like he got his Laurel back.

And almost always he was reluctant to go. But he always did. Kiss. And I love you without the voice modulator and then leave.

It was like this till she told him, "You know you don't have to come through the window. And you don't have to wear the hood." She placed his plate of food in front of him.

He shook his head. "I do. You'd think of me differently if you know the man behind the mask. If I walked through the front door. Besides, I thought you liked this mysterious man who came through your window and talked to you about crime fighting."

She blushed, "I do," She affirmed to him. "I like talking about crime fighting and justice with you. It's the best part of my day. I'd be lying though, if I said that I didn't want more,"

"You want more?" He asked, not sure of where this was going. Hoping, but also not getting his hopes up. She was unpredictable and wild, Laurel. He knew that he wasn't going to saddle her with all of this easily and he knew that he would have to be carefully.

"Are you honest with me, besides the voice modulator and the hood?" She asked him, direct like always.

He swallowed his bite of food and looked directly at her, though she couldn't tell. "Yes," He said.

"And I'm honest with you. About everything. You know me better than anyone, right now, including my father, who I tell just about everything." She said as she looked up from her food. "What I'm saying is that I'd like to be with you, provided your single."

He smiled a little. "Crimefighting and looking after you don't give a man much time for dating." He told her.

"So you'd be open to it?" She asked, and he could tell she was hopeful.

He shook his head, "Yeah, but it's complicated."

"Well, I'm not asking tonight. Take time. But don't keep me waiting too long, Arrow." She said, a little lightly.

He was glad that she seemed to understand. And he enjoyed finishing the meal. They got into bed, he held her and they talked way into the night as was the agreement. He kissed her head, told her I love you. And left. This time going to the Arrow Cave.

"So how'd it go talking to the bound up princess, Arrow?" Felicity asked him as she finished up some late night processes.

He smiled, "She wants to date the Arrow."

Felicity could see how giddy this made the idiot. She was pretty sure neither of them knew how destined in love they were meant to be, but everyone else sure did. It never worked out for the girls he dated. Hell, even she hadn't been able to catch his attention from Laurel. "So what are you going to do?"

"I have no idea," He said, genuinely terrified at the thought. He wanted to date Laurel, but the thought of putting her in danger every night terrified him too. "Laurel wants to date the arrow."

"Okay, chill out, do you feel the same way?" She asked him. It was an idiot question, but they were both idiots and she needed to convince him that this was the right idea.

He gave her a side eye. "Of course, I feel the same way. I want Laurel. I love Laurel. But what if she finds out?"

"Dude," Felicity said, as she put her hands on his shoulders and made him look her in the eye. "If you don't think she wants Oliver as well as the Arrow, you are even stupider than your 10 grade math final would lead me to believe," She said with a smile. "Tell her. The next time you're with her."

As it had turned out, the next time he saw her was after she'd been poisoned. Sara had returned and it wasn't the easiest time. But Dinah had gotten caught and they had looked for her. It was gonna be a little while before Felicity could get the location, so he went to Laurel's. Except she wasn't there. The window was opened, so she had obviously been there before.

He waited her out. God, this was definitely the right time to tell her. Where the hell was she? She was okay. She was released from the hospital. But she wasn't here. What if they had kidnapped her too? What if she was dead as repayment? His mind raced with all the possibilities of what could be and all of them were bad.

And then the door opened and he got out of the window and he raced to meet her at the door. "You came."

"You worried me," He said as he kissed her and he forgot all about the modulator, he hadn't put it on. All he could think about was kissing her. God, kissing her felt like lush warm chocolate in his mouth, a favorite flavor of home.

She yanked the mask off his, knowing his voice and smiling. "Ollie," She gasped.

He stopped and grinned a little stupidly, "Are you upset?"

"Are you kidding me? I love you, you idiot. I was just wondering when it would take you to figure out the same damn thing." She said, kissing him back.

"I love you too, Lo. You've always been the queen of my heart."

She wrinkled her nose. "That was stupid cheesy."

"But you loved it," He said, kissing her again.

And she laughed. "I did love it."

"Are you okay having a superhero super cheesy boyfriend?"

She chuckled again. "You don't have to take it on all by yourself."


End file.
